Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.p.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Aol Inc.

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Warner Music Group, Inc.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc.

Time Warner Inc.

Warner Home Video Inc.

Other

Oath Inc.

Telectronics Pacing Systems, Inc.

Wea Manufacturing, Inc.

Warner Bros. Home Enterteinment Inc.

Christopher J Cookson

Lewis S Ostrover

Warren N Lieberfarb

Paul Klamer

Keren O Perlmutter

Sharon M Perlmutter

Massimiliano Gasparri

Eric Wang

Gregory B Thagard

Hideki Mimura

Hiroaki Unno

Tetsuya Kitamura

Andrew Drusin Rosen

Greg B Thagard

Spencer Stephens

Jay Yogeshwar

Sheau-Bao Ng

Gilbert G Weigand

Alan J McPherson

Faramarz Azadegan

Edwin Outwater, Iii

Mikhail Tsinberg

Teiichi Ichikawa

Joseph E Wall, Iii

David Lehmann

Alan E Bell

Wayne M Smith

Leng Chua

Dean S Marks

Tomoo Yamakage

Bradley Collar

Toshinori Odaka

Masaru Sakurai

Anthony E Pietrzykoski

Daniel M Pindzola

Lurinda Chin

Howard Price

Lewis S Ostroyer

Chuck Dages

Shin-ichiro Koto

Richard Marquardt, Jr

John L Orehotsky

Deborah H Carey

Bradley Thomas Collar

Shin-Ichiro Koto

Separations or images relating to film or other fields may be registered using a variety of features, such as, for example: (1) correcting one or more film distortions; (2) automatically determining a transformation to reduce a film distortion; (3) applying multiple criteria of merit to a set of features to determine a set of features to use in determining a transformation; (4) determining transformations for areas in an image or a separation in a radial order; (5) comparing areas in images or separations by weighting feature pixels differently than non-feature pixels; (6) determining distortion values for transformations by applying a partial distortion measure and/or using a spiral search configuration; (7) determining transformations by using different sets of features to determine corresponding transformation parameters in an iterative manner; and (8) applying a feathering technique to neighboring areas within an image or separation.

Registration of separations

An optical disc used for storing content includes a theft control area selected to render the disc unreadable. The disc must be exposed to radiation of a specific wavelength before it can be read by a regular device. The theft control area may include an area that contains data that instructs the device not to read the disc. This area includes a coating that changes its optical characteristics when exposed to the radiation. The material could be radiochromic or thermochromic. Alternatively, the theft control area includes an RFID device that includes an element that is radiation sensitive. In this embodiment, when the disc is irradiated, the element changes its electrical characteristics.

Optical disc with a theft deterrent coating

A player is provided that is capable of playing discs of either a first or a second configuration. Both types of discs can be double-sided optical discs formed with data tracks. In one configuration, the tracks on one side follow one spiral while the tracks on the other side follow a second spiral, the two spirals being oriented in opposite directions as viewed from the respective sides, and therefore being mirror images of each other. This allows data to be read by a player seamlessly from both sides of the disc without changing the direction of rotation of the disc. In the other configuration, the tracks follow identical spirals. The disc is then rotated in one direction for one side and the other direction for the other side.

Method and apparatus for reading optical discs having different configurations

A system and method described herein provide stereoscopic video using standard DVD video data combined with enhancement data. In various embodiments, the enhancement data may be stored on the same DVD as the standard video, or provided via downloading and/or streaming to a stereoscopic DVD player. When stored on the DVD, the enhancement data is provided in various forms, including MPEG (-1 or -2) program Stream level; or the MPEG elementary stream level. In one embodiment, the enhancement data consists of a difference signal between left- and right-eye images taken on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

Method and apparatus for generating stereoscopic images from a DVD disc

An apparatus for processing data and content includes at least one drive and a player (that may be implemented by software). At least some of the content is protected using a content scrambling scheme such as audio or video watermarking. The drive and player cooperate to operate in a lockable mode wherein if protected content is provided to the drive, the drive and player are interlocked so that the content is presented by the player only in accordance with consistent with protection scheme being used, and cannot be presented by any other player. Moreover, in the locked mode, protected content may not be accepted from any other drive. The drive and player are switched to an unlockded mode by presenting to the drive unprotected content.

System to ensure that all audio-visual optical disc types are properly screened for watermarks

A method for processing an analog video signal that represents a work for which rights information is asserted. The signal includes a rights assertion mark (RAM) in the video portion of the signal within the visible picture such that capture of the picture will include the mark. The signal also includes copy control information (CCI) bits in the vertical blanking interval of the signal for representing copying and redistribution rules. If the RAM is present and the CCI bits are present, then the copying and redistribution rules represented by the CCI bits are applied. If the RAM is present but the CCI bits are not, then the most restrictive copying and redistribution rules that can be represented by the CCI bits are applied.

System and method for the assertion and identification of rights information in an analog video signal

Images may be registered using temporal (time-based) and spatial information. In a film implementation, because film is a sequence of frames, using information from neighboring frames may enable a temporally smoother visual experience. In addition, it may be beneficial to take advantage of the fact that consecutive frames are often shifted similarly during the photographic process. Distortion measures may be used that discount candidate transformations that are considered to be too far from one or more preferred transformations, such as, for example, an optimal transformation from another frame or block or a currently-optimal transformation from the same frame/block. Composite color images may be processed to provide registration of underlying components.

Image registration system

Separations or images relating to film or other fields may be registered using a variety of features, such as, for example: (1) correcting one or more film distortions; (2) automatically determining a transformation to reduce a film distortion; (3) applying multiple criteria of merit to a set of features to determine a set of features to use in determining a transformation; (4) determining transformations for areas in an image or a separation in, a radial order; (5) comparing areas in images or separations by weighting feature pixels differently than non-feature pixels; (6) determining, distortion values for transformations by applying a partial distortion measure and/or using a spiral search configuration; (7) determining transformations by using different sets of features to determine corresponding transformation parameters in an iterative manner; and (8) applying a feathering technique to neighboring areas within an image or separation.

Post-production processing may be performed by receiving a film-processing order, determining a process useful in fulfilling film-processing order, identifying one or more resources available to perform the process useful in fulfilling the film-processing order, and scheduling with at least one of the identified resources to perform the process.

Film resource manager

Growing community of inventors

Studio City, CA, United States of America

Christopher J Cookson